Motivated by the adverse effects of the financial crisis, in 2010 the Commission Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and the EIB made each available EUR 100m to the benefit of micro-enterprises and self-employment, with a particular emphasis on social inclusion and groups with limited access to the traditional banking system. Progress Microfinance represents the first ever EU-wide dedicated financing programme for the European microfinance sector, and in addition to financing capacity it also provided for the structural framework needed to absorb the various smaller microfinance pilot predecessors and evolve towards a much-called for ´one-stop-shop´ for EU supported.
